Karen Hendy’s colleagues thought she was mad when she gave up her job in banking to become a full-time artist
A CHILDHOOD spent in Kenmare, on the rugged and scenic Kerry coast, gave Karen Hendy a solid grounding for a long-held love of art.
“Kenmare is all built up now, but that time in the late 1960s and 1970s it was the ideal place in the centre of nature to get the creative juices flowing. We had new age hippies living in Kenmare too, and their love of art and their easy-going lifestyle gave a great bohemian feel to the place.”
Hendy attended secondary school in Kenmare and spent a lot of her time drawing all over her desk. While the teaching nuns didn’t approve of her desk-drawing activities, they gave Hendy lots of support in her artistic endeavours.
“The nuns were wonderful and always encouraged me to paint and draw,” she says
In the early 1980s, while Hendy was still in secondary school, the family moved to Athy.
“My father became ill and was housebound. There were six children and my mother had to go back to work. Things were tough, but we survived.”
When Hendy finished school, her natural direction was towards a fine arts degree.
“Money was the issue. My family would have had to pay. If I had got a higher result in business studies, of all things, I would have qualified for a grant.
“The nuns in the school in Athy actually offered to pay for me . . . They really encouraged my art work and wanted me to pursue it as a career. But I was too proud at the time to accept their generosity.”
Hendy completed a Fás- funded diploma course in printing in Cork and for a short while went into a family-run business. As is often the case, working for family proved tricky.
“It just didn’t work out. It’s hard taking orders from your family,” she says.
At that time, Hendy met some girls through her art circles who were working in banking and decided to apply for a job.
“The girls I knew who were working in the bank always seemed to have money and be having lots of fun. I had always viewed banking as a smart, attractive profession. So I applied for a job.”
Hendy started off in a temporary position as secretarial and administrative back-up to the loan-approval committee in Bank of Ireland’s credit department in Dublin.
“The atmosphere was great in the credit department. The skills I had acquired during my print course translated well into becoming a typist. Because there were no laptops back then, every loan-approval manager was assigned a typist.”
A further temporary position became available in the bank’s Newbridge branch, where Hendy took up work in 1994 and she was soon offered a permanent position.
“I was thrilled to have the security of a permanent, well-paid job,” she says.
Hendy worked in the accounts section, processing transactions and dealing with telephone queries, and also on the customer service desk.
“I liked the busy pace of the work. It was great to be in the thick of things and to be part of a team that provided an essential service. But as the years went on I realised I was just waiting for the day to fly by so that I could get home to paint.”
While still working in Bank of Ireland Newbridge, Hendy was accepted, against stiff competition, for a drawing and visual investigation certificate course in the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin.
She progressed with various stages of this evening course until 2006.
“Travelling to Dublin three evenings a week to be in NCAD for 6.30pm was gruelling. I could have spent the day wrestling with large financial transactions or sorting out a customer’s current account,” she says.
“Next thing I would be dashing out the door and belting up the motorway to make it on time for class. My colleagues were great and they supported me in getting the work finished on time.”
Towards the end of her stint in NCAD, Hendy decided to let the creative juices flow in earnest by taking a career break to concentrate on painting and drawing.
“Having the full day was just fantastic. It gave me the precious time I needed to be very productive.”
Hendy submitted a portfolio to Laois County Council and was awarded a bursary that continued for three years to 2008.
“Being awarded funding to help you work is a great boost for any artist.”
While still on career break, Hendy’s work was selected for exhibition in Éigse, the Carlow arts festival, in the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA) in Belfast and the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) in Dublin. Her work has also featured in several exhibitions around the country as well as in Berlin, Germany.
“My career break was coming to an end and decision time was looming – go back to my job in banking or be a full-time artist?” she says.
“Over the years I had sold some of my work. While it is a wonderful feeling to be appreciated enough to be paid for what you do, for me knowing that my work is out there giving inspiration is my motivation. The success I was enjoying was enabling me to continue what I was doing and that, of course, influenced my decision.”
Hendy took the big step and handed in her resignation.
“It wasn’t exactly the ideal time to give up a steady, pensionable job with a recession just starting. My bank colleagues were asking me was I mad,” she recalls.
Hendy funded her career switch from her own savings.
“I had an SSIA account, so that helped. And, like every bank employee, I had bank shares and, like everyone else, I’m mad as hell to see my nest egg gone as a result of mismanagement and risk taking.
“As an artist I have to make a living like everyone else. The fulfilment I gain from my work means I am not driven by a need to consume.
“The bursary funding helps as well. My work has sold well over the past few years and is still selling. So far, I haven’t been affected by the downturn. People who can afford to buy a piece of art they like are still buying.”
Hendy had her first solo exhibition last year in the Dunamaise Arts Centre in Portlaoise.
“Compared to the regular hours of banking, this career is 10 hours a day, seven days a week. My 12 years as a banker allowed me to witness panic about money and I think that sealed my philosophy as an artist,” she says.
“I am making a living from my art. I would like to feel I am not painting solely for commercial purposes but letting the ideas flow to wherever they take me.”
Hendy has stayed on a number of occasions in the last year in the well known artists’ retreat in Cill Rialaig , Co Kerry.
“Working in Cill Rialaig with its wild, coastal landscape and its peaceful setting really gets the inspiration flowing. The freedom from distractions allows me to immerse myself in the work. Cill Rialaig is a particularly special place for me as I spent my childhood down the road in Kenmare.”
Inspiration garnered from Hendy's recent stay in Cill Rialaig has resulted in a solo exhibition in The Atrium at the Shamrock Plaza, Carlow (in association with Artforms Gallery). Her exhibition, aptly entitled Journey, continues until December 11th.
Hendy is very happy with her new life. “I am doing now what I always wanted to do. Along the way, I spent 12 years in banking. But I got here in the end.”
- www.artformsgallery.ie
